A gardener's world from the hill on Ball Rd

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Another belated GBBD posting for me celebrating the flowers that are in bloom right now. The hydrangea pictured above is a striking array of complex flowers right now and not at all the blue coloring we were expecting. I think that says something about our soil. Over time I expect that acid rainfall will take care of redressing the soil acidity. In the meantime our ‘Pink Billow’ is marvelously colored.

Mostly the garden is all about lilies right now. The oriental lilies are peaking, both in terms of production and height. The Oriental/Trumpet cross ‘Anastasia’ was headed toward 10′ tall before a storm caused the whole clump to slump against the fence.

Abundant lilies

Orienpet Lily ‘Anastasia’

Oriental lily ‘Time Out’

Oriental lily ‘Casablanca’

And then there are the lily relatives that are flowering around the yard too…

Red daylily

First Glads

All of these end up in various displays that Beth makes in the house…

Lilies and glads

A real surprise for me was the Gloriosa Lily. I was very late in planting the summer bulbs this year. This and several other non-hardy bulbs didn’t go in the ground until a little over a month ago. I’ve had difficulty growing the Gloriosa Lily over the years, only finally succeeding in getting flowers in 2012. Imagine my surprise when this one literally leapt out of the ground and started climbing its frame.

Gloriosa superba ‘rothschildiana’

I think the lesson is that it really is a tropical vine and does not want to be planted until the soil is really warmed up.

Another surprise for me this week was to find the remnants of a flower on the Queen of the Night in the greenhouse.

Queen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) after flowering

Since these night blooming plants only come out after sundown I need to do evening inspections if I’m going to catch one of these buds actually flowering.

ueen of the Night (Epiphyllum oxypetalum) in bud

Other interesting tidbits from around the yard are the first flowering of the Great Blue Lobelia.

Lobelia siphilitica

And the Culver Root which is almost as high as some of the lilies.

Culver Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)

And in the front bed the Shasta Daisies and Black-eyed Susans are in fully glory now.

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3 comments on “Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day July 2014”

Just linked to your blog via Garden Shoots, which I also follow. I realize now that I know you through PVC Rock Garden Society (I used to do the programs) Maybe you’re at picnic today. I couldn’t make it. Anyway, nice blog, beautiful photos. I’ll have to ask you about photo travel next time I see you. Sounds like you may have been on trip w/ Melissa?

WOW! Awesome lilies! That settles it, I am officially going to have to add a few lilies this fall, I’ll be visiting the Lily Garden shortly.
I might have to add a split rail fence somewhere, it did a great job saving Anastasia…. I just don’t know if I will be able to spare a few for the house though, but they do look great inside.

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Les: We have Narcissus catabricus planted at work in a spot with really good drainage. They seem to be hardy and started blooming around the first of the year, but they are flat on the ground now under a couple of inches of snow and a...

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Chavli: I googled the seedlings’ names as you suggested. Although they look alike now they don’t resemble one another later on. I particularly liked the flowers of Silene hookeri. It would be nice to see them progress.

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